At some point today, while tens of thousands of NBA fans flock to Staples Center to watch the start of the league’s showcase event, the All-Star Weekend, a group of owners and players will meet somewhere quiet to negotiate a new labor agreement.

Talks have been few and far between over the past two years, with both sides saying that if nothing is resolved this weekend, then a lockout is almost sure to follow when the current collective bargaining agreement ends June 30.

The owners say they desperately need a hard salary cap and a reduction in the length and value of contracts, among other concessions from the players, because they are projecting losses of about $350 million this season.

The players say they don’t believe the owners are losing money and have refused to yield to their demands. Billy Hunter, the executive director of the union, has told the players to prepare to be locked out starting July 1.

Neither side has ruled out the possibility of a resolution, but neither did they offer any solutions to the ongoing impasse. In fact, there has been zero movement since the players rejected the league’s proposal for a new CBA during the 2010 All-Star Weekend.

In October, NBA commissioner David Stern said the league was seeking to reduce player salaries by between $750 million-$800 million, trimming roughly one-third of the $2 billion the owners spend each season on contracts.

At present, the CBA calls for the players to receive 57 percent of all basketball-related income from the owners. The league would like to see the ratio reversed, with the players getting the smaller chunk of the pie and the owners receiving the larger portion.

It’s anyone’s guess how it might play out today, but some are predicting nothing of consequence will come of the bargaining session and the two sides will remain far apart with the prospect of a lockout looming next summer.

“I don’t subscribe to the doom-and- gloom theory,” Lakers guard Derek Fisher, who also serves as the union president, said earlier this week. “As long as there’s time to get work done, we can get work done.”

Asked if a lockout was a certainty if a deal isn’t reached this weekend, Fisher said, “I guess it sounds dramatic, but it’s the reality based on the schedule. Some people could subscribe to that theory because it could be the last opportunity for a large group of ownership and players to meet at the same time. It would be July, basically, for the next opportunity. So with July1 being the deadline, that makes it tough.”

Owners have been forbidden from speaking publicly about the negotiations, but Adam Silver, the NBA’s deputy commissioner, told The Associated Press: “We’ve shared an enormous amount of financial information with our union. We’ve maintained, I believe, very good relations with both the union executives and the members of their negotiating committee, and I further believe both sides recognize we need to ramp up the intensity of the negotiations coming out of Los Angeles and reinforce our mutual commitment to getting a deal done before the end of this collective bargaining agreement.”

Larry Coon, perhaps the foremost expert on the NBA’s salary cap and other financial matters, said during an interview he doesn’t believe much will come of today’s meeting because there’s no reason for either side to bargain yet.

“I don’t think any progress will be made,” he said. “The stakes aren’t high enough. Both sides are too entrenched and all you’ve got now is posturing. What happens in July? There are some free agent signings and summer league – not that big of a deal.

“The owners will want to perpetuate the lockout when you get into September, when training camps are usually about to start, and then October, when the regular season would normally be about to begin.

“When the stakes get really high is Nov. 15, when the players will miss their first paychecks. Guys like Kobe Bryant, who are making the highest salaries, can withstand a long lockout. But the rank-and-file guys can’t.”

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.